BEN Toolis has already received two significant votes of confidence from new Scotland coach Gregor Townsend. Now he is hoping for a third in the coming weeks - one that will see him named in at least one of the summer Tests.

The first boost for the Australia-born lock came when he was named in the national squad for the tour alongside the Gray brothers and Tim Swinson, and ahead of his Edinburgh team-mate Grant Gilchrist. The second came earlier this week, when Richie Gray was ruled out by injury and Townsend opted not to call up a replacement.

While Rob Harley can move up to the second row from the back row, the reduction in numbers, presuming it continues, clearly enhances the chances of Toolis’s adding to what is so far a solitary cap. Should the opportunity arise, the 25-year-old is confident he will prove himself to have matured considerably in the two years since his debut in the Six Nations defeat by Italy at Murrayfield.

“I’ve improved a lot, I’m a lot more confident, and I’ve got a lot more games under my belt as well,” Toolis said. “I’m only 25 and hopefully I’ll keep getting better, but if you’re talking about the last two seasons since I got my cap, I’d say I’m playing the best I have. I put that down to the boys I work with and the coaches as well - and just me wanting to get better and put that Scotland jersey on again.

“It was a frustrating first cap for me, but you can’t control that. Worse things have happened, stranger things have happened - there’s boys have gone on to make 100

for Scotland and they got their second cap a year or two later as well.”

Toolis has proven his strength of character by consistently playing well in an Edinburgh side which suffered a demoralising run of defeats, and that sort of self-reliance is one of the traits that Townsend values most. In any case, given Harley’s versatility, it is entirely possible that all four who are capable of playing in the second row will be named in the same squad at one point.

Toolis, of course, would ideally like to get game time in all three matches, and certainly does not want to pick up a second cap only to be left out in the cold thereafter for another season or two. But if he had to choose one of the three Tests to return to the team, having been born in Brisbane he would surely opt for the game against Australia in Sydney.

“It would be strange, but also very special,” he said of that possibility. “I did grow up wanting to play for the Wallabies. But I knew my second option was to come over here with my strong Scottish heritage” - his mother is from Carluke .“I'm happy to wear the thistle, and playing against the Wallabies would be quite surreal for me, but special, and I'd definitely give everything I could to try and beat those guys.

“I played club [rugby] with Samu Kerevi the centre, and went to school with Nick Frisby - he's one of my good mates from home. And I trained in the academy with Rory Arnold.

“It might be a bit weird on the pitch. When they were over for the Autumn Tests they knew I was in and around the squad and that I was hoping to get a chance in the summer. I think it will be a friendly reaction, pleased for each other, and hopefully we have a good game.”

Toolis is not the only Edinburgh player to be rewarded for keeping his head up despite his team’s poor form with a Scotland place. Hooker George Turner and scrum-half Sean Kennedy, a late replacement for injured team-mate Sam Hidalgo-Clyne, are another pair who will go on tour next week despite not having figured in the plans of former national coach Vern Cotter. And, having seen both men play at close hand, the lock believes their call-up has been well deserved.

“I feel like he should have had a lot more games, because I think he’s a great player,” Toolis said of Turner, who only started an Edinburgh match for the first time last month. “He deserves his shot. He plays like a back-rower, works very hard and I'm very pleased he's in the squad.

“I was really happy Sean got the call too. I love playing with Sean, he’s a tempo nine, and that’s what Gregor likes. I thought he was unfortunate not to get in the initial squad. Hopefully he'll get a look-in come the Test matches.”

Meanwhile, Sean Maitland, who has had to withdraw from the tour because of an ankle injury, has signed a two-year contract extension with Saracens. The 28-year-old winger has just completed half of the two-year deal he signed in 2016, and the extension ties him to the European champions until 2020.

“I’m extremely happy to be staying at Saracens until 2020,” said Maitland, who has 28 Scotland caps. “I’m very settled and my family love living here. Although I was disappointed to get injured near the end of the campaign, that’s rugby, and I’m already looking forward to next season.”